In China and Southeast Asia, people are suffering from damage and flooding caused by tropical depressions. Typhoon Yagi, which brought heavy rain and storms, not only caused serious damage to infrastructure but also flooded many parts of the country. The next storm, Bebinca, caused the first death in the Philippines. It is expected to make landfall in southeastern China on Monday night.
The official death toll from Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam has risen to 281, with more than 1,900 injured, the country’s disaster management agency said. The strongest tropical storm in decades raged a week ago, authorities said, and also caused extensive damage in the capital, Hanoi. In Lao Cai province, an entire village was swept away.
According to the Civil Protection Agency, about 235,000 families were affected by the storm. In addition, more than 2.6 million farm animals were killed and hundreds of thousands of rice fields were damaged. According to a report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), millions of children in northern Vietnam were left without access to clean water and sanitation after the storm.
Typhoon floods northern Southeast Asia
In Vietnam’s neighboring Laos, local media reported several days of heavy rain in the cities of Vientiane and Luang Prabang. High water levels in the Mekong River also caused massive flooding in the landlocked northern province of Luang Namtha, the Laotian Times reported.
According to the Bangkok Post, 12 nearby Thai provinces, including Chiang Rai in northern Thailand and Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, have been hit by floods. Citing the National Disaster Management Agency, the newspaper reported that 43 people have died from floods in the past month.
Myanmar has also been hit hard by the ‘Yagi’. State media reported at least 74 people dead, while local media estimated the death toll to be well over 200. The floods have cut off much of the area from the outside world, triggered landslides and torn apart homes. Many people are missing. But reliable information is difficult to obtain due to the political situation in the country, which is ruled by a brutal military junta. Witnesses in Kayah State said the military failed to rescue flood victims but launched airstrikes because resistance fighters had been deployed to the area.
China and the Philippines brace for the next storm
Super Typhoon Yagi had previously caused death and destruction as it passed through the Philippines and southern China. Less than a week later, the region would be hit by Hurricane Bebinca.
According to the Philippine Civil Protection Agency, six people have already died in the Philippines due to the typhoon. It is unclear how the people died. The heavy rains and storms, among other things, caused landslides.
‘Bebinka’ is currently heading towards eastern China and is expected to make landfall Monday night in the metropolitan area of Shanghai and the major cities of Hangzhou and Ningbo, home to more than 46 million people. Chinese state TV reported that more than 600 flights were canceled at Shanghai’s two international airports. The tropical storm is coming to China during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which is expected to hit millions of people.
High wave warnings have also been issued for coastal areas such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Authorities have warned that heavy rains could also cause flooding in inland Anhui Province.
